I was at a crossroads. The business I helped to start eight years ago - what I thought would be my life's work - was shutting down. shopOrganic was a labor of love from the beginning, a chance to work with two other amazing women. We created an e-commerce site based on the values we hold dear - organic, non-gmo, eco-friendly. We believed in voting with our dollars, purposely choosing to not support any brand whose parent company had donated to oppose GMO labeling.

We believed, and I still do believe that consumers have way more power than we think when it comes to shaping our world. Shift your spending to companies doing good in the world and we'll have more companies doing good in the world. Maybe we were too idealistic but I don't think so. We built a company from the ground up with these values, watched it grow and then decline, and I found myself in the dismantling process wondering what to do next.

I knew I wanted to stay connected with my true passion, healthy food. And I wanted to stay connected with you, the wonderful community of like minded people I'd known, at least in a virtual sense, at shopOrganic. But it took a day in the garden for it all to come together. There I was, spending the afternoon sifting compost in the sun. In that meditative place, it all came together over a pile of produce stickers. Littered throughout this gorgeous pile of compost were tons of produce stickers - banana, orange, avocado. Picking out the stickers had me laughing. Clearly not everyone in the household had gotten the memo: 'take the stickers off before it goes in the pile!' I took a picture of it and thought about sharing my composting pitfalls and that was it - this blog started to come together in my head.

If you visit regularly, you can expect to see seasonal recipes, my (very) amateur gardening experiments, whole food nutrition, holistic health, urban farmer profiles, book reviews, aromatherapy tips and so much more.

If you've found me through shopOrganic, if you ever called and spoke with someone there, it was probably me. Please say 'hi' in the comments - I'd love to hear from you. Follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, or Instagram, sign up for my newsletter. Thanks for visiting and I hope you stick around.

Wish you all the very best, Cara. I am truly going to miss ShopOrganic. Was hoping it was just a mutual decision because you guys wanted to pursue other things, but sad to hear it was because business was declining. I had no clue there was a problem and feel others didn't either. Wish we'd have know and could have had the chance to offer suggestions. However, what's done is done, and I hope you all find something very fulfilling to put your efforts into. Bless you all.

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Candace Mast

3/1/2016 03:10:07 pm

Sure will miss ShopOrganic. You all had a wonderful choice of products. I always felt good when I shopped there. Looking forward to your blog.

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Charles

3/1/2016 03:34:06 pm

Hi Cara, I've spoken to you in the past. Sorry to hear about the decline in business. I'm partially to blame for that. I apologize. I should've ordered more items and more often. Even though I didn't order that often, it was always a comforting feeling knowing that if I did need a hard to find organic product, I could count on you. I will miss that. Good luck in the future. I'm sure you will do great things... like rid the planet of Monsanto!

I want to congratulate you on your new journey. It is true that 'one door closes and another opens.' For that matter, your doors will continual to open nonstop. You have what they called, "endless blessings." It will not stop. You will rise to the top, you'll see. Things in life can only get better. And not just with time, but with the person who strives for it. Who seek determination and power. And yes, that is you. Keep doing what you're doing. Soon you'll be where you are meant to be.

Take care and good will to you,
Cara.

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Kennady

3/1/2016 07:57:04 pm

Hi! I enjoyed Shop Organic very much, but am glad I can follow your blog! I need some tips on aromatherapy, so I'm looking forward to that! Thank you for creating this blog. It's great to stay in touch with others who have more experience on healthy, organic, non-gmo diets! Your blog is a huge help. Thank you! (:

I've known Cara for 20 years. I've seen her grow into this woman who ADORES healthy eating and helping others learn and grow into it themselves. She is an INCREDIBLE cook and incredible writer! I am very proud of the person she has become and am looking forward to what's next!